Denise Bidot
I'm from Miami, and when I was 18, I packed a suitcase and left for L.A. permanently to try and make it as an actor.
I can be sexy and feel sexy when I'm in full glam hair and makeup for a shoot. I can also feel really sexy when I'm in sweats and no makeup with my daughter.
I'm a Miami girl so I really love to be sassy and get dressed up.
I actually moved to L.A. in 2005, and I wanted to be an actress.
I did makeup for a plus-size model a month after I officially quit acting. It was just fate. The photographer was like, 'Have you ever thought of modeling?' It may have been the one thing I never thought was possible for me.
I always say there's no wrong way to be a woman.
You're beautiful and you should feel good in your skin, and nobody should tell you otherwise.
As a single mom, I want to say that having a child does not have to be a setback. You can still reach your dreams and teach your kids to reach for their dreams.
I'm a big believer in Spanx. I live in them.
I'm Latina and Middle Eastern. Not a lot of people look like me, and I want to embrace all ethnic cultures and make them feel like they're included.
I once saw JLo's 'Behind the Music' special, and she said she may not get every role she auditions for but her goal is to make every single person a fan. That stuck with me, and I want to do that every time I see a client.
I'm just a woman. I'm a curvy woman, and hopefully some day they do end up cutting out the word 'plus-size.'
I don't care what you call me. I'm glad to even have a place in this fashion industry. Plus-size, straight-size, in-betweenie - I don't care regardless.
I think if they did go ahead and include a plus-sized angel, I think it would be such a huge statement from Victoria's Secret especially cause for so long, as a curvy woman, I haven't been able to shop there, able to fit in a lot of their stuff.
Those old '90s models when women were just themselves and they were real and they were embraced that way - I think we should get back to that.
I think for a while magazines were using celebrities and it's really coming back to the age of the supermodel and models having a name and having a voice and it's refreshing.
I'm a woman - I'd be lying if I said I didn't have insecurities.
As a very curvy woman, jeans are always a hard find.
It's a refreshing moment to find a pair of jeans that just fit my curves perfectly and keep their shape - I hate when they start getting baggy at the knees.
Body positivity is not just an issue for larger women, and I think that's important to acknowledge. It's about including everyone, whether you're transgender, or LGBTQ, it's really about embracing every person's uniqueness.
It's in my nature to want every image of me to be authentic but at the end of the day as a model, I don't always get control over how someone decides to put forth my picture.
My daughter is going to get to grow up in a world where she never sees herself being an outcast or feeling like she doesn't fit in.
If I feel good, I look my best.
Nothing like stopping at Balthazar in between NYFW madness. Their shrimp cocktail is delicious and healthy.
There is something about dancing that just makes me feel alive, and it's an amazing workout.
What has helped me the most to navigate the business side of the modeling world was having open conversations with colleagues. When I first started out, I asked other models about compensation and started learning more about the business and uncovering the truth. Having these open dialogues helped me understand more about the business side.
Often in life, you get thrown curveballs and how you handle them and how you bounce back from them will define who you are.
The biggest piece of advice I can give to other Latinas is to be confident, strong, and secure in who you are.
When you're a curvy girl, it can be hard to find a suit that fits perfectly in all the right places, but Target definitely has accomplished that with their swimwear.
Once you find that perfect suit that fits just right, it will give you an extra boost of confidence that will make your pool or beach day even better.
My daughter is 8 years old, and just recently she came to me and said a girl called her fat. And I couldn't imagine that was going on in second grade. It just blows my mind that kids are already being influenced by the media and using words this way.
When you have a group of women who are happy and support each other, then you have a group of women who can take over the world.
As a mother, I think it's so important to change the perception of beauty.
Representation is so important for all of us, especially millennials and the next generation.
Seeing my mother struggle with her weight confused me: I looked at her and thought she was beautiful, she was my mom. And this woman, who I looked up to everyday, couldn't see her own beauty?
Nowhere have I felt so much awesome responsibility than when teaching my daughter that there is no wrong way to be herself - to be a young woman, whatever her size.
I grew up in a generation where I really had no one to admire and say, 'Oh, that looks like me and she's successful and she's smart.'
Nobody is perfect. So for designers then to be taking chances on curvy women and not saying, 'Oh, you have to be this size to model for us' is really opening the door.
I think that there are a lot of beautiful girls out there in our industry who are really taking a stand and being advocates for happiness and size diversity, and so the consumers are also very vocal.
I knew in my soul that girls like me needed to be represented.
Very early on I knew I wanted to be in entertainment.
I didn't know how, I didn't know when, but I wanted to act. I wanted to be in films.
My mom was a single mom and I'm an only child, so growing up it was really just me and her against the world.
I've always been a real stubborn Latina. I'm a Gemini.
When the clothes change, the women change. They start feeling more confident and then all of a sudden, people start seeing them differently.
Plus-size girls are now doing beauty campaigns and hair campaigns and so many different things that for so long we fought for and wanted.
A lot of girls get caught up looking at what other people are doing. You've just got to stay in your lane. You've just got to go forward and know that whatever is meant for you is going to come your way.
I always laugh about it because when I come in with hair extensions or lashes or all this makeup, she's like, 'Take it off, mommy, you're beautiful just the way you are.' It's amazing to think that a 6-year-old can have what so many women of my generation are struggling to figure out.
There shouldn't be one size when it comes to runway models.